MST'ers note: uhm. Hi. this is the first time I've tried something like
this. I'm trying to be gentle, but I'm a bit infuriated right now, so I'm
gonna be a little harsh..
Welcome! this is not my fic, but I liked it, so I'm MST'ing it!
<fade in to a theatre, with a clean white screen. the noise of people
talking is heard quite loudly>
This new BGC fic, "Into the Shadows", is a co-production by myself and Andy
Skuse. We hope you enjoy it.
<as the words scroll across the otherwise white screen, a figure in khaki
and green armor falls from the top of the building, landing in one of the
seats with a thud>
Lucca: HEY!! NEXT TIME, USE THE DOOOOOR!!!!
As always, any and all comments, public or private, are welcome. Just
remember to send them to both of us if you go the private route. I'm at
jhedge@wwa.com, while Andy is at askuse@execulink.com.
<Lucca then screams, and dodges out of the way of a plummeting green
figure, falling in towards the spot she just vacated. >
Frog: Whhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
<Frog comes to a perfect landing, grabbing a seat to the left of where he
fell. Lucca begins to berate him about his incompetent piloting, when he
shushes her, and points at the screen>
****************************
Firelight.
Warming. Comforting.
Consuming. Destroying.
Obscuring.
The truth does not live in the light. Light is not truth. Light
can be manipulated to conceal the truth. To blind us. To trick us. To
divert our eyes away from what is really going on.
For me, the truth lives in the shadows.
To expose the truth, I must place my trembling hands into dark
corners, and step into the blackness wearing armor made from knowledge,
and a helm to shade my eyes from the light.
Like an unpolished sword still blackened by the forge, I will fight
the sun, and not shine.
Come what may....
Frog: ooooooooh.. someone doth be having a bad day, methinks.
Lucca: I wonder how I can shut off that noise.. ???
INTO THE SHADOWS
by
Jeanne Hedge & Andy Skuse
<Lucca jogs up behind the screen and the sounds of tortured electronics are
soon heard. However, the noise soon quits, replaced by a low, powerful hum>
1. DYING WISHES
Lucca: almost got it!
<Frog holds his head in his hands>
The garage was almost silent, except for the low hum of slumbering
machinery. The light in my office spilled out through the doorway into
Lucca: YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWW!!!!
<a loud zapping sound is heard and Lucca comes running back to her seat,
trailing smoke from her rear end. The noise, however, is gone>
the darkened service bays, washing dimly over vehicles that waited
patiently to be whole again. Tiny red and blue power indicator lights
pierced the shadows along the back wall. In the distance, I could hear
the monotonous sounds of the factories that surrounded the garage, as
they continued to grind, rumble and churn through the night. For me,
the day was finally over, and all I wanted to do now was rest my tired
old bones. But I had a visitor, and she needed my advice. My tired
bones would have to wait.
"Sylia, why must you do this?" I finally replied. "Do you really
think your father would have approved?"
The young woman before me faltered for a moment. The pleading look
on her face quickly changed to one of seriousness as she considered my
question.
Lucca: Waitaminute. Sylia pleading?
Frog: Doth seem a bit farfetched.
"Doctor Raven," she replied, her voice now reflecting her stern
gaze, "if my father would not have approved, then why did he provide me
with the information and tools to deal with the problem?"
Damn. That razor-sharp ability to reason that I had instilled in
her was coming back to haunt me.
Lucca: Dr. Raven raised Sylia????!?!?
Magus: So It would seem.
Frog/Lucca: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Magus: Heh. Just watch the Fanfic, younglings.. we'll talk later..
<Lucca and Frog bigsweat, but turn back to the screen>
As I stared out the doorway into the darkness to consider her
words, my aged eyes struggled to make out the discarded pieces of
rusting metal that lay strewn about the garage floor. And as I thought
hard about what I was going to say, my vision began to deceive me. The
twisted metal pieces and their shadows had somehow altered their shapes,
combining in the dim light to look a bit like severed metallic limbs. A
bright red fluid was seeping out of the torn appendages, flowing out
upon the garage floor towards me....
"Can't you see what they've done with his work?" she continued, her
anger now rising uncharacteristically to the surface.
She paused, and I could see the frustration in her eyes as she
struggled with her words.
"I can't wait any longer, Doctor. They've turned his grand designs
into schemes of greed, and I can't let it continue."
"Sylia...." I looked into her eyes again, wishing that she had
never received that damned data unit. But it was too late to change
that. My friend -- her father -- was gone, and the wisdom of his wishes
was getting harder to see each time that Sylia came to visit me. She
wasn't going to drop it.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then turned back to render my
anticipated reply, but my words were stolen from me. She was standing
beside my computer, her arms still folded across her chest in a gesture
of contained patience, her eyes still burning with defiance. Schematic
Magus: _contained_ patience? I would suspect that patience does not need to
be contained.
Frog: oft, 'tis the _impression_ of containment that is important, Sir
Magus, not what is being contained..
readouts and technical blueprints displayed themselves on the computer's
screen in a hypnotic sequence. Images that I had seen many years ago.
Abandoned by my reply, I looked away again, back into the darkness of
the garage. The severed robotic limbs I had seen moments before were
once again cold, rusted, lifeless, metal pieces, the "blood" simply a
dried oil stain.
Foolish old man. If only Katsuhito were here....
Fine. There was no way I was going to let her do this by herself.
She was bright -- very bright -- but _they_ would not hesitate for even
a second to silence anyone who opposed them. How many others had died
because of their ruthless determination? Someone had to do something,
but I did not want to lose her to _them_. I had already lost one close
friend....
Lucca: *smirk* Yup, he got pinned under all that rusty metal. Died of
starvation..
Frog/Magus: 0_o
I smiled bravely and took her hands in mine. "Sylia, if you must
do this, then I will not stop you...."
Her hard gaze altered slightly, but the determination in her eyes
remained. "But?"
"But," I continued, "you must do this right. Preparation,
planning, and teamwork will keep you from getting killed. You must--"
"Teamwork?" she blurted out, taking her hands from mine and
stepping away, turning her back to me. The tone of her voice went cold.
"This is my fight. I see no reason to--"
Magus: Does this remind anyone else of a scene from Romeo and Juliet?
Frog: what?
Lucca: Who?
Magus: *sigh* Never mind..
"Sylia, please listen to me. I know the young think they know
everything, but someone as bright as you are should know better. You
can't do this yourself. I want to help you. And I am sure that your
brother will not just sit by and watch. He will want to help too. You
know what he is like."
Lucca: yeah, the pervert will follow around anything in a skirt!
She nodded. Perhaps she was listening after all.
"And while you have inherited your father's research, as well as
his talent for making those ideas a reality, don't ever forget what
happened to him." I paused, trying to gauge her reaction. "He was
alone, Sylia, and he thought that he, too, could deal with the problem
himself. He was a great man, but great men, and great women, can make
mistakes. Please, don't make the same mistake that he did."
Magus: please, Sylia, don't make the same mistake your father did.. don't
buy a foreign car!
Lucca/Frog: ?_?
I wish I could have seen her face, but she remained turned away.
"Sylia, will you let me help you?"
After a few moments, she slowly nodded again.
"Good. Now, if you still believe that this is important to
you...."
She suddenly turned back, then crossed the room to embrace me, her
eyes bright with unshed tears. "Thank you," she whispered softly, and
then kissed me on the cheek. "I think I needed to hear that." She
broke the embrace and stepped back slightly, taking my hands in hers.
"And yes," she said, in a more normal voice, "it is still very important
to me."
I smiled. "Okay then, you will need to make some plans. I suggest
that the first thing you do is find someone to help you."
She looked up at me with a quizzical look on her face. "But you
said that you and Mackie would--"
"Yes," I replied, cutting her off, "We will help you. But I am an
old man, and Mackie is still a young boy. We can help you build
anything you need, but I think you might need more help than that. What
will you do when you are outnumbered? And believe me, they _will_
outnumber you. That has been their strategy in business, and I have no
doubt it will be their strategy _outside_ of business."
Lucca: Since when did Pops Raven become a tactical expert??
Frog: *shrug* the answer is beyond me, milady..
Sylia slipped her hands out of mine, and took a few steps away from
me again, her right hand covering her mouth as she considered my
suggestion carefully.
Finally she faced me again, her eyes burning fiercely now. "I
think, Doctor, that you may have a point."
all: Maybe the one on the top of his head!!!
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Nick Casler: fthenakis@matnet.com, caslern@matnet.com, sephiroth@matnet.com
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"Y'know, I'm sick of answering users' questions! I'm tired of their
constant whining! I didn't want to do this anyway! I didn't want to be
a Technical Support Representative!
"I wanted to be... A _*LUMBERJACK*_!!! Leaping from tree to tree..
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Fthenakis, Sephiroth Jenova, SunDogg, SunSpot ==> caslern@matnet.com
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